I didn’t grow up traditional or cultural. In my head, Kerela was nothing, it had no significance. Even my religion bore a weight on my shoulders, Orthodox Christianity is a disciplined branch that i had no desire to be apart of. I looked down on it all. All because I was subjected to the views of white australians and there stereotypical portrayals of people that i myself have had little encounters with. Being Indian in a Western Sydney  was tough, to say the least. I was small, i was scrawny and i was forced to reap the same negative views of a race of people that had become so distant to me. I began to dislike who i was and the colour of my skin. Growing up with white people can do that. And while most were kind and attempted to attain an image of colourful culture from me, i sat there rejecting it all. I never wanted to be Indian, i hated it. I wanted to be white.  And then not so long ago Rajiv Satayal reminded of how proud i should be.

I am a western mind in an eastern body. I was subjected to the greatest opportunities that a young boy could get. And i wasted it trying to reject who i was. We are not a small race. We make up majority of the  worlds population. We are some of the greatest minds and abled bodies on this planet. Granted our accents may not be desirable and some of us may not fully understand the western way of life, but does that truly matter…no.

Being Indian gives you perspective, you are part of a rich and diverse culture  that spans hundreds and thousands of years. Not only colour but raw feelings of love and compassion. We gave the world the Karma Sutra and Ghandi. Peace and Love, two of three things i and many others live their lives by. We consist of 29 states, each with their own separate traditions, religions and languages, a cultural mixing pot of diversity. Yet it is here were our fault lies.

Indians now distinguish themselves as the sub culture they are a part of. If you are Gujarati,you say you’re Gujarati, if you’re Tamil, you say you’re Tamil, and the most common of all, if you are Punjabi, YOU ARE Punjabi. We care too much about who we are individually that we forget that we are all the same. The same blood, the same bone of the same country. We walk the same walk and sing the same song. Others may look down on us with there pompous attitudes and pale complexions but we show them the way towards living a free life.

Too many times have i heard the common phrase that Indians don’t hate anyone else but each other. We collide and differ and blame each other because we are too weak minded to see that we are all essentially the same. In this era of a new generation of sons and daughters of migratory parents, we should assimilate and spread. Show the rest of the world how good we are, show them that we are proud people that can hold our own. Our passion goes far beyond cricket and lavish weddings. WE care. And we should show people that we aren’t as stupid, naive and soft as people think we are.  Stand up as one nation instead of the 29. Because its not worth it

My whole life i have been running away from my culture, trying to be someone that i’m not. Fuck that. I’m Indian. And thats it.